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College football around the state

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 2, 2001

UCF close, but falls to Clemson

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Clemson coach Tommy Bowden was pleased with his team's first game. His quarterback wasn't as happy.

"I'm frustrated because there are plenty of times I could have made a play and broke this thing open and didn't do it," Woody Dantzler said.

Dantzler's harsh assessment of his play came after he went 15-of-25 for 152 yards and ran 18 times for 46 yards as Clemson beat Central Florida 21-13 on Saturday.

UCF's Ryan Schneider completed 29 of 48 passes for 297 yards, but the Knights had just 35 yards rushing and scored only twice in seven drives into Clemson territory.

Schneider's receivers dropped several passes.

"That's been going on most of the summer. We just have to get better," Knights coach Mike Kruczek said. "When you throw the ball as much as we do, you have to come up with those kind of catches."

Dantzler's teammates accounted for 92 yards as Clemson's offense sputtered.

Bowden was concerned that his team only got two first downs after taking a 21-7 lead with 10:36 left in the third quarter. But after watching fellow top 25 teams Nebraska and Georgia Tech struggle in their openers, Bowden called the performance "about par for the course."

UCF cut Clemson's lead to 21-13 with 8:09 left on a sneak by Schneider but Javier Beorlegui missed the extra point.

Alex Haynes scored the other UCF touchdown on a 7-yard run to tie it at 7 with 12:40 left in the second quarter, but the Tigers answered 1:24 later on Dantzler's 17-yard scoring run.

Central Florida had a first down at the Clemson 30 with about four minutes left, but a sack and poorly executed screen pass forced a punt. Dantzler's 7-yard run on third-and-6 ended UCF's hopes.

Jeff Scott's 22-yard run on a fake field goal put Clemson ahead 21-7.

FAU loses debut

MIAMI -- Florida Atlantic waited three years to play its first game. It will have to wait a bit longer for its first victory.

The Owls lost 40-7 to Slippery Rock in FAU's debut before an announced 25,632 at Pro Player Stadium.

Florida Atlantic scored with 3:37 left in the third quarter when Todd Poitier blocked a punt by Mike Halberg and recovered the ball in Slippery Rock's end zone. Mark Myers added the extra point.

The Owls are coached by Howard Schnellenberger, who led Miami to the national championship before leaving to rebuild the program at Louisville. He also was an assistant on Don Shula's staff when the Miami Dolphins went undefeated in 1972, and later had a short stint as head coach of the Baltimore Colts.

It was Schnellenberger's first game on the sideline since the final game of a tumultuous 1995 season at Oklahoma.

FLORIDA A&M 35, DELAWARE ST. 17: Quinn Gray threw three touchdowns and ran for a score for the host Rattlers.

Gray broke open the game on the first play of the fourth quarter when he hit receiver Marco Junious on a 74-yard touchdown down the sideline.

The play gave the Rattlers a 28-17 lead in the MEAC opener for both.

JACKSONVILLE 20, LENOIR-RHYNE 16: Jon Turner caught a 62-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter from Gary Cooper and set a school record to lead the visiting Dolphins.

Jacksonville was stopped on consecutive rushes before the winner with 9:27 left. Turner set a school record with 205 receiving yards on five receptions.

The win was the first for Jacksonville, a Division I-AA non-scholarship program, against a scholarship team.

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